Traffic-calming alternatives to 20mph limit are available

Alternatives to a blanket 20mph speed limit for Horsham are available to improve road safety - according to one county councillor.

This week the Department for Transport issued new guidance on setting local speed limits, at a time when groups in Horsham are campaigning for better road safety.

Residents of Orchard Road started a Facebook campaign to have a 20mph limit on their street after several near misses in October 2012.

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Brad Watson (Con, Southwater and Nuthurst), who chairs West Sussex County Council’s North Horsham County Local Committee which approves traffic regulation orders, said: “Traffic calming does help. If it’s carefully designed it works.”

Proposals to reduce the default speed limit in residential areas of Chichester to 20mph were approved in November.

However Mr Watson said that such a blanket limit in Horsham would be impossible to implement because of roads carrying through-traffic such as Albion Way.

While he said they could not legislate for idiots, he pointed towards two examples of traffic calming in Horsham, Crawley Road and New Street, while polarising, had both succeeded in slowing down traffic.

Several places in the district already have 20mph limits, such as Billingshurst High Street.

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